CRTC, government and ISPs should play role in CBC’s new media future

Embracing digital media is fundamental for the CBC and Canadian culture, and requires action from the public broadcaster as well as the government, reports the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage in its February 28 review of the CBC. "Traditional broadcasting is now about content delivery across as many platforms as can be made available, and the development of a global brand to attract audiences to that content," reads the 208-page CBC/Radio-Canada: Defining Distinctiveness in the Changing Media Landscape. "It is in the global milieu that Canada's public broadcaster must act, competing for audiences, advertising dollars, and the public's finite attention span for news, information and entertainment." While some private broadcasters have responded to fragmented audiences and advertising dollars through consolidation and mergers, this option is not available to the CBC, the report states. Neither is increasing size and scale. But digital media presents the public broadcaster with an opportunity for renewed public relevance. "Content is still the imperative that will determine relevance to audiences," reads the report. "This being so, the need for our national public broadcaster to make qualitatively different Canadian cultural content is more important than ever, since it is through this lens that it may offer something to set it apart from purely commercial programming." The report notes that traffic to CBC.ca and Radio-Canada.ca has more than doubled in the last five years. Also, more than 10% of Canadians visit CBC.ca each month, and Radio-Canada.ca is the second most visited website among Francophones. The public broadcaster has also taken advantage of streaming video, offering news clips and dramatic programming online. However, multi-platform delivery of content presents challenges to the CBC not faced by other broadcasters. "Its ability to ‘reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences' and to ‘contribute to shared national consciousness and identity' is impeded by the effects of audience fragmentation." Regardless, the committee agrees the CBC requires a new media presence to remain relevant now and in the future. As such, the committee made 10 recommendations for the CBC's involvement with online distribution: Recognizing the need for Canadian public spaces in the online environment, the CBC should continue to develop its Internet presence and to make its content accessible online for Canadians. The CBC should build on its new media foundations and continue to pursue new and innovative ways of connecting Canadians of all ages to each other and to their national public broadcaster. The Government of Canada should amend the Broadcasting Act to include digital media and emerging technologies as an integral aspect of achieving the CBC's mandate and reaching out to Canadians. The Government of Canada should include a clear role for digital media and emerging technologies in achieving the CBC's mandate as part of the proposed seven-year memorandum of understanding. The CBC should develop a digital media strategy to be submitted to the Department of Canadian Heritage. The plan should include cost estimates for the development and expansion of the corporation's new media endeavours relative to the goals of its mandate. The Government of Canada should recognise the need for increased funding toward the development of new media initiatives to pursue the objectives of its mandate. The Committee notes the ongoing New Media Initiative undertaken by the CRTC. We recommend that, in its review, the Commission give consideration to the social and cultural, as well as the economic impact of internet broadcasting on the objectives of the Broadcasting Act. In its New Media Project Initiative, the CRTC should give consideration to the role of public broadcasting in the delivery of Canadian content across all platforms, and the extent to which public broadcasting should contribute to the development of a vibrant, sustainable Canadian programming environment. The CRTC, as part of its New Media Project Initiative, should consider the need to protect the neutrality of carriage of Canadian public broadcasting content over new media platforms. Canadian ISPs should be encouraged to voluntarily embrace the spirit of Section 3(1)(t)(i) of the Broadcasting Act (give priority carriage to Canadian services) in their approach to Canadian public broadcasting content delivered over the Internet.

CRTC, government and ISPs should play role in CBC’s new media future

Broadcast | March 3, 2008

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